African Slaves Found Peace in Key West

A small, unique piece of American history
lies beneath a narrow strip of sandy beach not far from this
island's hotels and nightlife.

It's the known resting place of nine Africans, and 286 others
are believed to be entombed along Higgs Beach on Key West's shore.

The dead were casualties of a trans-Atlantic trip aboard three
American-owned slave ships intercepted by the U.S. Navy in 1860.
The vessels were heading to Cuba to sell their 1,432 passengers
into labor.

Rescued from slavery, the Africans spent three months in Key
West, being cared for by local doctors with supplies purchased by
the U.S. marshal and donated by an accepting citizenry. About 1,100
survived, and were eventually sent back to Africa in a dangerous
voyage.

"They were brought here for refuge and became part of our
community," said Norma Jean Sawyer, director of Key West's
African-Bahamian Museum. "In Key West, they found some peace."

A Slave Shipwreck

The cemetery is just one attraction for tourists who find
themselves in Key West during February, which is black history
month. There's also a permanent exhibit focusing on the Henrietta
Marie shipwreck on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, in
Mallory Square just steps from famous Duval Street.

Excavated largely by the society, the Henrietta Marie, which
sank near Key West in 1701 after delivering slaves to Jamaica, is
one of only a handful of slave shipwrecks in the Western Hemisphere
ever identified by name.

The slave trade had been declared illegal in the United States
by the mid-19th century. But it still continued to places such as
Cuba and Brazil, financed illegally by American profiteers. Slave
traders were considered pirates and faced penalties of death if
caught.

President Buchanan in 1859 ordered a blockade of Cuba with Navy
steamers to intercept any American-owned slave ships.

In the spring of 1860, sailors boarded the Wildfire, the William
and the Bogota, finding the Africans living in deplorable
conditions. They were destined to be sold as slaves in Cuba for as
much as $1,200 each, said archaeologist Corey Malcom of the Mel
Fisher museum.

A Gracious Welcome

The Navy brought the Africans to the nearest U.S. port, Key
West. The remote mariner town had only 3,000 residents and its main
industry was salvaging, also known as wrecking.

"These surprise guests were welcomed graciously," Malcom said.

Soldiers, carpenters and others quickly built a barracks and a
hospital on a three-acre compound on what is the United States'
southernmost point. The Africans, many of whom were ill after
enduring the six-week voyage from their homes near present day
Benin and the Congo, were confined to the compound.

They remained in Key West for three months, with U.S. Marshal
Fernando Moreno spending his own money to build the barracks and
provide the Africans with food, clothes and medicine.

Townspeople "cleaned out their closets" and wagon drivers,
carpenters and other workers were hired to help, Malcom said. But
despite their efforts, 295 of the Africans died.

Moreno paid the $1,617 for the burial of 294 Africans. One other
was buried before Moreno took custody of the Africans.

Moreno spent thousands of dollars in the three months, but
although he petitioned the government for repayment until his
death, he was never reimbursed.

The surviving Africans were sent across the Atlantic to Liberia,
a U.S.-sponsored West African colony for free slaves. Some died on
the voyage, and most of the roughly 800 who did make it never
returned to their homes.

Sawyer says the careful burials of the Africans is a pre-Civil
War reminder of Key West's reputation of tolerance, a quality it is
known for today for its acceptance of any person and lifestyle.

"The people here made sure they weren't just thrown in a
hole," Sawyer said. "They were given some reverence as human
beings."

The town's seafaring identity made it such an accepting place,
though there was a minority who didn't like the presence of the
Africans and was eager for them to leave, Malcom says.

"You would see that diversity and tolerance because there were
always people coming in off ships from different places with
different values and different cultures," he says.

Graves On Beach

But their tale of death and survival remained obscure until
about four years ago, when Malcom helped discover the nine graves
on Higgs Beach near a paved road and beach volleyball courts.

Inspired by an old map of the Higgs Beach area that showed the
cemetery, he found documentation on the whole ordeal, from
apothecary shopping lists, to inventories of plates and dishes, to
a journal of the return trip to Africa.

Malcom then decided that the area in and around Higgs Beach
should be investigated. He contacted Lawrence Conyers, a University
of Denver archaeology professor, who came to Key West with
ground-penetrating radar.
They beamed radar waves into the ground for three days and found
nine graves that resembled a series of 5- to 6-foot-long ovals,
neatly lined up in rows of three only a couple of feet deep. Malcom
believes most of the other graves were moved after a fort was built
over the cemetery, and suspects there could be a massive pile of
bones nearby.

The site of the nine shallow graves is marked off by a black
steel fence, and plans are to build a more permanent barrier to
protect them. Malcom is preparing to apply for a designation on the
National Register of Historic Places.

"I expect at some point, whether it's us or someone else,
someone will come across the other 280 people that were buried
there," Malcom says.

Adegbolu Adefunmi, prince of the Yoruba African tribe in
America, and Sawyer coordinated three days of burial and
purification rituals for the cemetery last year.

While there are historic burial grounds for freed slaves, the
cemetery joins one in New York as one of two in the country that
houses people from Africa who were not sold as slaves, Adefunmi
said.

"Unlike many Africans buried on [U.S.] soil, these people were
shown respect with an ordered burial," Adefunmi said.

If You Go…

SITE OF THE AFRICAN GRAVES: Between West Martello Tower and
White Street Pier on the south side of Atlantic Boulevard. Across
the boulevard from the cemetery, a plaque installed by the state of
Florida tells the refugees' story.
MEL FISHER MARITIME HERITAGE SOCIETY & MUSEUM: 200 Greene St.,
Key West. Phone (305) 294-2633 or visiti www.melfisher.org. Open
9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission $10 adults, $8.50 students, $5
children. Attractions include permanent exhibit about the Henrietta
Marie, a slave ship. Read the story of the Henrietta Marie at
www.historical-museum.org/exhibits/hm/henmarie.htm.
LOFTON B. SANDS AFRICAN BAHAMIAN MUSEUM & RESOURCE CENTER: 324
Truman Ave., Key West. Phone (305) 295-7337 or visit
www.bcclt.org/museum.htm. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through
Friday; weekends by appointment. Suggested donation: $5 per adult.
The museum is sponsoring the screening of an African film on Feb.
13 and a "Heritage Fashion Show and Dance" featuring African and
Caribbean clothing on Feb. 27; both events at Key West's Veterans
of Foreign Wars center.
KEY WEST: Black history month will be observed at local churches
with various events including a Unity Day program and a celebration
of ancient African and contemporary black history. Other local
attractions include ecotourism, fishing, historic sites, sunsets
and Ernest Hemingway's house. For help with lodging or other
information, contact www.fla-keys.com or (800) 352-5397.